Detroit River Hawk Watch

9/16/2023

Northwest Ohio Tri-State Chapter - 9/16/2023

Broad-winged Hawk Kettle - Photo by Sam Cox

Report by David Kline-Parker

On Saturday, September 16th, the NW Tri-State Chapter of Ohio Young Birders Club went to Lake Erie Metropark for the Detroit Hawk Watch. Mrs. McCaskey, one of our advisors, drove Sam Cox and I, who are both members. Joel, another member, rode with Cherie Yarger the other advisor, and her husband, Mr. Yarger, who are Joel’s aunt and uncle. Ethan Walz, the last member, could not make it because he had a cross country meet. Afterwards we went to the Detroit International Wildlife Refuge. I got two birds to add to the list of birds I had never seen before: a Black-Crowned Night Heron and a Broad-Winged Hawk.

At the hawk watch we went down to the Detroit River. We met one of Mrs. McCaskey’s friends. His name is Mark Hainen. He is one of the volunteer hawk counters. While we were there, Mark helped Joel with settings on his camera so it would take better pictures. It worked! We also met Mr. Buster and three of his OYBC students from OYBC NE, which was nice. While at the river we saw three kettles of hawks, which is a big group of hawks. Two of the kettles were Sharp-Shinned Hawks, and one was Broad-Winged Hawks. Joel, Sam, and I went for a walk on a boardwalk they have there. We saw Great Egrets, Mute Swans, lots of Mallard Ducks, Canada Geese, Gulls, and Terns.

At the International Wildlife Refuge we took a path down by a river. There were lots of Cormorants. It was a rookery. Sam got pooped on. Mrs McCaskey said that was good luck. Then we saw the Black-Crowned Night Herons. There were two of them.

We had a lot of fun at the Hawk Watch. We were all happy that we got to see the Herons. Joel, Mrs. McCaskey, and I agreed that the heron was our favorite part. We all thought it was a good experience. All the bird pictures were taken by Sam Cox. Mr Yarger took our group photos at the river. Mrs. McCaskey took them at our pictures at our other stops.